This has come at a time when farmers in the taluk, whose arecanut palms are fast withering owing to yellow leaf disease (YLD), are looking for government's support to grow oil palm.
Director of CPCRI George V. Thomas told The Hindu that the samples were collected from the plantation near Goonadkka in Sullia taluk a week ago on a request by the State Horticulture Department to analyse if they had phytoplasma that caused spear rot disease in oil palms.
An agriculture graduate and farmer K. Vasanth Rao of Todikana village, who has been pursuing the cause of farmers with the State government for the past two years, said about 1,000 palms at the government's plantation planted in 1968 appeared disease free. He said that the survival of these palms for more than 40 years showed that oil palm could be cultivated in the taluk. The palms survived without any maintenance. Nobody watered them in summer. The palms looked healthy and robust when this correspondent visited the plantation in Sullia taluk. Mr. Rao said that the Centre in its budget for 2011-12 allocated Rs. 300 crore to promote oil palm cultivation on 60,000 hectares of land in the country. It had announced plans to produce 3 lakh tonnes of palm oil annually for five years. Mr. Rao said that an information booklet on oil palm cultivation published by the office of the Additional Director of Horticulture (Oil Palm Division), Lalbagh, Bangalore, stated that oil could be tapped within three years of planting. An oil palm would give yield up to 30 years. Fruit yield was 15 to 30 tonnes per hectare per annum according to an official estimation.
Those preferring rubber as an alternative crop would have to wait for seven years to tap rubber and had to cope with acute shortage of tappers, he said.
Mr. Rao said another advantage with oil palm cultivation was that oil manufacturing companies procured harvested fruit from the plantations directly. Hence, growers need not worry about post-harvest management.
Tissue culture
Mr. Thomas said that CPCRI had planted some areca saplings raised through tissue-culture in three villages of Sullia taluk to ascertain if they could withstand the yellow leaf disease. Its results would be known only after a few years. These saplings had been raised using the inflorescence from disease-free areca palms in the yellow leaf disease endemic area of the taluk, he added.
Sixty such saplings were planted at Nadubetta, Goonadkka and Balambi villages in 2009 and 2010, according to another scientist from CPCRI.
Source: The Hindu, 7th April 2011)
Director of CPCRI George V. Thomas told The Hindu that the samples were collected from the plantation near Goonadkka in Sullia taluk a week ago on a request by the State Horticulture Department to analyse if they had phytoplasma that caused spear rot disease in oil palms.
An agriculture graduate and farmer K. Vasanth Rao of Todikana village, who has been pursuing the cause of farmers with the State government for the past two years, said about 1,000 palms at the government's plantation planted in 1968 appeared disease free. He said that the survival of these palms for more than 40 years showed that oil palm could be cultivated in the taluk. The palms survived without any maintenance. Nobody watered them in summer. The palms looked healthy and robust when this correspondent visited the plantation in Sullia taluk. Mr. Rao said that the Centre in its budget for 2011-12 allocated Rs. 300 crore to promote oil palm cultivation on 60,000 hectares of land in the country. It had announced plans to produce 3 lakh tonnes of palm oil annually for five years. Mr. Rao said that an information booklet on oil palm cultivation published by the office of the Additional Director of Horticulture (Oil Palm Division), Lalbagh, Bangalore, stated that oil could be tapped within three years of planting. An oil palm would give yield up to 30 years. Fruit yield was 15 to 30 tonnes per hectare per annum according to an official estimation.
Those preferring rubber as an alternative crop would have to wait for seven years to tap rubber and had to cope with acute shortage of tappers, he said.
Mr. Rao said another advantage with oil palm cultivation was that oil manufacturing companies procured harvested fruit from the plantations directly. Hence, growers need not worry about post-harvest management.
Tissue culture
Mr. Thomas said that CPCRI had planted some areca saplings raised through tissue-culture in three villages of Sullia taluk to ascertain if they could withstand the yellow leaf disease. Its results would be known only after a few years. These saplings had been raised using the inflorescence from disease-free areca palms in the yellow leaf disease endemic area of the taluk, he added.
Sixty such saplings were planted at Nadubetta, Goonadkka and Balambi villages in 2009 and 2010, according to another scientist from CPCRI.
Source: The Hindu, 7th April 2011)
1 comment:
Cross transmission of phytoplasma associated with yellow leaf disease of arecanut in Kerala to healthy oil palm resulting in manifestation of typical symptoms of spear rot disease has been established using the vegetative vector and insect vector,Proutista moesta.Spear rot disease incidence was noticed on oil palms planted in YLD affected areca gardens in north and south Kerala. Disease escape in the old oil palms of Sullia cannot be taken as resistance/tolerance as the prevalence of YLD in the plantation is not known.Proximity of the inoculum is an important factor governing disease spread. Hence planting of oil palm in YLD affected gardens in Sullia may be taken up with caution.It is also significant to point out that coconut planted in YLD affected gardens of Karnataka have manifested typical symptoms of root(wilt)disease.
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